Omaha daily bee., 1887-09-25

the suggestion of p. q. Crowdcr. a prom
inent Odd Fellow of England, who visi-
ted Baltimore on u tour of this coun-
try, ian. application was prepared in
pctent authority of the lndcpendent
Order in England for a dispensation ad-
regular fellowship of the
order" Mr.. Crowder, on his return to
England shortly afterwards, presented
the application of the Duke of York
lodge, at Preston. The request was
granted and charter issued to the new
lodge February /. 1890. The charter
contained, besides the ordinary provls.
ions, the following. "That the SAID
lodge, being the first established in the
United States, hath the power to grant
warrant or dispcnsation to a number of
brothers of the Independent Order OF
Odd Fellowship IN any state of the
union, for the encouragement and sup
port of brothers Of the said order, when
on travel or otherwise" MIR. Ridgely, in
his admira BILE history of Odd Fellowship,
says: This large provision, IN which
lay the germ of the American system,
was SO little considered at the time as to
provoke neither comment nor debate,
and even the name of the mover is un-
known. So little cognizant are we OF
the planting of those potent seeds that
have grown to giant oaks and waving
forests"
On the twenty-second of February,
1921 the past grands of " ashington lodge
were organized into d grand lodge, un-
der the title of Grand Lodge Of Mary
land and of the United States" The mem
bers of this grand lodge of America
were Thomas Wildey,. grand master;
John P. Entwsle, grand deputy master;
William S. Couth; grand warden; John
grand guardian; William Larkam, grand
conductor;
A charter was issued by the grand
lodge on the fifth of September, 1921 to
Franklin lodge, of Baltimore.
At its November session in 1924 the
| grand lodge of Maryland and of the
United States divided itself into two
| bodies One became the supreme auth
ority of the order through the several
grand lodges and the other subsidized
INTO simply the state grand lodge of
| Maryland. The former took the name Of
GRAND LODGE OF THE UNITED STATES
| and has since exercised the jurisdiction
that naturally and properly belongs to
| such body.
Several attempts had been made to es-
tablish Odd Fellow lodges in this country
before the organization of Washington
lodge at Baltimore. A lodge was organ
lied in New York December 90. 1906,
called the Shakespeare lodge of Odd
| Fellows, of which SolOman Chambers
was noble grand. This lodge fourished
until 1918, when it was broken up by the
war with Great Britain. A large ma
jorty of the members were aliens, and
| were forced by that event to leave their
| IL napnn,hnr
1918, and early in 1919 George p. Morris,
the celebrated poet, became member.
| Through his influence Franklin lodge No.
3 was organized January q, 1921, and in
| November of the same year Washington
lodge No. was instituted.
| When the grand lodge of the United
| States was organized IN 1926, as before
described, there were only four grand
! lodges subordinate to it, those of Mary
New York BY that act of organization,
however, the order Of Odd Fellows took
clearly defined organic form as a ma
tional institution and dnominally took pos
| session of the whole country. In Febru-
ary, 1925, when the supreme body held
its first meeting there were nine subordi-
nate lodges. The next year there were
then the growth of the order has been
rapid. There is Il grand lodge in every
| state of the union. In 1878 there were in
| the United States 6.734 subordinate
lodges, and 1878 subordinate encamp-
nents.
| TIE PATRIARCHAL BRANCH
of the Odd Fellowship was founded June
4, 1897, by authority of the grand lodge
of Maryland, by the institution of Jeru.
salem Encampment No. l in Baltimore;
| September 5, 1884, a charter was granted
to James l.. Ridgely and others to organ
ize the grand encampment of Maryland.
The grand lodge of the United States in
1910 granted representation from grand
| encampments.
The grand lodge of the United States
maintained its name, exercising iursdic-
ton over the entire union until $780, Its
Headquarters was at Baltimore, but its
cities. In 1880, at a meeting at Toronto.
Canada, on account of the enlargement of
its jurisdiction, its name was changed to
| SOVEREIGN GRAND LODGE
of the Independent Order of Odd Eel
lows. and it's jurisdiction was made CO.
extensive with the countries over which
Odd Fellowship extends. 1t, in short,
became and remains the hsdor
lodge Is made up of delegates from the
grand lodges of the states. All past
grand masters and past grand patri
archs are eligible to election as delegate
to the sovereign grand lodge. The
headquarters remained at Balti
more, though its annual sessions were
often held in other cities until 1886, when
it was changed by vote to- Columbus
o., The actual removal took place IN
July of this year. The sovereign grand
lodge is the body that met in Den
yer last week. The custom of holding
sessions in different cities was adopted
to allow the members of this supreme
body of the order an opportunity to be-
come acquainted with the whole country
and learn the needs of the different sec
tions. At the close of the year 1885 the
number of lodges in America and
Switzerland under the jurisdiction of the
sovereign grand lodge was 1861, with
total membership of 5l7,8lO. These
lodges reported receipts for the year in
the aggregate of "a. 766, III .96, aggregate
expenditures for relief 81, 960, All, 4l7,93
! These figures give some hint of how